I don't really know if I could say I have grass in my lawn, Ed. I do have a huge crop of plantain that was growing pretty high, though - and I guess the brown stuff underneath it could be called grass if you were really generous about it.....Good thing my garden tractor has a cupholder so I could have something cold to keep me company.

So, the child molestation and the coverup by bishops and the amounts of reparation paid.....it's a very complex and interesting issue.

I live in the Diocese of Sacramento, California. From 1979-1993, during the worst of the child molestation crisis, we had an exemplary bishop, Francis Quinn. He instituted what I thought was a very good policy for dealing with child molestation complaints. Victims of major offenses were offered a settlement of $40,000, which was about half the cost of a decent house in this area at the time. Victims of less serious offenses were offered $25,000, like the adult woman who was "groped" by a priest who thought she was in love with her. These settlements were given for all reasonably credible offenses, with no need for a trial. Victims were also offered counseling at diocesan expense. I think it was 1986 when insurance companies refused to cover dioceses for child molestation claims. After whatever date that was, the dioceses had to pay the claims, and our diocese paid every reasonable claim without hesitation. I don't know if there were nondisclosure agreements connected to the settlements, but those are common in out-of-court settlements because they help keep settlements from escalating. I suppose that nondisclosure can also be understood as keeping the story from the press and maybe (or maybe not) from the police, but the primary purpose is to prevent a "run on the bank."

If you look under Sacramento at bishop-accountability.org, you will see that the Sacramento Diocese has a relatively short list of offenders, and that all of the cases were handled openly. So.....we thought our diocese did the right thing. And many U.S. dioceses had done the right thing. This problem of child molestation first came to light in the 1960s - it was not a new thing. Bishops spent millions on psychological testing of seminarians, and on treatment facilities that psychiatrists guaranteed would cure priests.

But everything changed in 2002. All hell broke loose, and it came to light that bishops in a number of dioceses in the United States had covered up incidents and moved priests instead of firing them and referring them to prosecution. There was a national outrage, and rightly so. California and many other states lifted statutes of limitation on child molestation claims, and the price of settlements went up and up. By the time things settled down, the rate of compensation was $1 million, and all the victims in my diocese who had already been compensated years ago, received an additional million dollars. The same thing happened all over the U.S. There were a number of dioceses that had callously done their best to evade responsibility, and their coverups caused a scandal that hurt those dioceses who had done the right thing from the start. And bishops and management personnel in some of those offending dioceses should be in jail for what they did. It should be noted though, that in 2002 the U.S. bishops set forth a number of guidelines meant to prevent molestation of children; and from my experience in security matters, I and say I think they're very good guidelines. No preventive measures are perfect, but these are quite good. Only one bishop failed to sign onto the agreement to adopt these measures, and he's now retired.

But please remember that the crime of child molestation was committed by individuals, not by the church. As the employer of these individuals, of course the church must bear financial responsibility. I'm sure some will say I'm a horrible person for saying so, but a million dollars is far more generous than the rate of liability compensation that you'll find for malpractice in most situations in the U.S. - and a million dollars, or even fifty million dollars, will not do a thing to heal the harm done by a child molester. Catholics were sincerely outraged by the harm and the betrayal done by some of their priests, compounded by some of their bishops. And yes, there were some Catholics who had a hard time believing accusations levelled against priests they had known and loved for years. Looking down the list of California and Wisconsin priests accused of offenses, I can see a number of friends I just can't believe would do such a thing - but the evidence is there, so I have to believe it.

We still haven't heard the full story. No bishop has stepped forward to explain how and why these coverups happened, and why accused priests were transferred instead of being suspended and referred to law enforcement authorities. I suppose the trouble is, that the hysteria level is so high that honest discussion is impossible. If a bishop dared to open his mouth, he would be inundated with million-dollar damage claims.

And the trouble with those million-dollar claims is that typically, lawyers collect half of the awards in fees, even if the lawyer has done nothing more than file a claim form. Entire law firms in the U.S. deal in nothing but Catholic child molestation claims. It's big business, and it has no interest in healing the people who were harmed by the molesters. Victims of crimes are healed by quiet compassion and counseling and just compensation, and just punishment for offenders - not by huge settlements and big headlines.

So, yeah, I'm opening myself to all sorts of outrage by saying that million-dollar settlements are excessive. And it could well be that the outrageous conduct of a few callous bishops is a large part of the reason for those million-dollar settlements. What's happening now is that a number of dioceses are filing for bankruptcy, leaving some victims with huge settlements and some with nothing - and continuing to drain the contributions of parishioners who had nothing to do with this wrongdoing.

There are no easy answers, and so much of it has to do with blame and retribution and self-righteous outrage that has nothing to do with healing the victims and preventing future crimes. I'm sure this statement gives the screamers plenty to scream about, but that's what I think.

-Joe-